Stuffed Methi Dosa

All of you know the fundamentals of making a normal Dosa. The usual formula is 3 parts Boiled rice, 1 part Raw rice, 1 part Urad dhal. Take Rice: Urad dhal in the ratio 4:1. Soak this mixture for atleast 3 hours and grind. To this add a spoonful of soaked menthi and grind till the flour gets soft. Add required salt to the flour paste and allow it to ferment overnight.

The demo of Dosa preparation is shown in the video clip. Further to this, you may place the required quantity of masala stuff and roll it over the pan. For crispy outcome, apply oil around the dosa circumference. For health conscious people, please add little oil. You can try adding any available stuff and the steaming soft menthi Dosa is ready.

For dosa or idly, the ratio for rice:urad dhal varies for mixie and wet grinder. The result is best with wet grinder because heat produced during grinding is absorbed by stone and quantity is more whereas the heat produced in mixie jar heats up the dough and may not be soft comparitively. So the texture and softness is best with wet grinder. If quantity is less go for mixie.

Sambar, coconut / coriander chutney, tomato gravy, chilly powder with oil, curd are some recommended side dishes.

Ragi biscuit

Ragi is very rich in protein, carbodhydrate, fibre and all other nutrients found in other grains. It reduces the metabolic activity of converting into energetic calories and the body sustains hunger naturally.

It is common to eat ragi as 'kali' balls /ragi mudha /dosa/ malt. How would it be to take it as crispy bisucits, sugary or salty? Just so simple.

Take 2 cups of ragi flour and mix 1 cup of icing sugar. Add little warm water and required quantity of butter and make the dough. Avoid baking soda because this will bake your stomach too. Add a spoon of powdered cardamon powder for fragrance. If consistency is not arrived, add two spoons of wheat flour and one spoon of maida to the mix. This acts as binding agent.

Now flatten ragi dough with medium thickness. Take a sharp edge cup or any material to cut it into circles or squares. Preheat your oven and bake the biscuits on a plate at 250 degrees. When the product is ready, its healthy aroma will fill your house. Consume these biscuits along with milk or any hot drink for evening tiffin. The taste resembles 'butter biscuits'.

For diabetic people, replace sugar with required quantity of salt and serve with diluted butter milk or kanji.

Onion rice Rolls

If fried rice or pulav or brinji or onion rice is leftover for the day, don't waste it. You can shift it to another mouth watering delicious crispy snack. Wondering how?

To the leftover rice, add coriander, ginger paste, little garam masala and sonf (sombu), reheat and give a face lift. Now knead a dough mix with required maida with one portion of rava and small amount of oil and salt. Then divide into small balls and press it into thin layer so as to get get a crispy touch.

Now on the circular flattened dough, place the rice mixture in the middle, close one side first and roll it firmly. Paste the ends with water and fry it till the colour turns golden brown. This is exactly the way you do samosa or singada. Really it's delicious with tomato chutney. Hmm...!

Please note that the leftover rice for the preparation should not be stale or watery. It has to be upto the healthy consumption standard.

See you again with a new dish. Take care.

Lemon squash

Take 30 ripe lemons and extract juice. Take 500 gm of sugar, mix in 750 ml of water to prepare syrup as you do for Gulab jamoon. Here don't boil the mixture for string consistency, just boil it for syrup. Take 10 gm of ginger and grind it with water in small mixer jar. Allow the ginger juice to settle down and let the harmful calcium residue go to the bottom. Throw away this residue.

Filter the lemon juice to remove pulp and seeds, as the pulp will make the squash turn bitter after some days. Now add lemon juice and ginger juice into sugar syrup, stir it well. Pour the content in a bottle and place in the fridge. Mix 80ml of water to 10 ml of the concentrate and the drink is ready. You have done it.

For those trying to do some innovation, boil few handful of Pudina leaves and take decoction. Add this to the syrup content, for it gives natural green colour and fragrance to the drink. This squash is an ideal substitue for aerated bottled drinks .

The product is free from artificial preservative and food colour.

Moringa leaves vada

Banana flower, Green leaves of drumstick, fenugreek, spinach etc are rich in iron, protein, and other nutrients vital for body growth and immunisation.

Soak bengal gram or channa dhal in water as usual for preparing vada. Add ginger, chilly, saunf, asafoetida, salt as required and grind the dhal suitably in coarse or soft mixture. After rinsing the green leaves in water, slightly fry them with 1-2 spoon of oil. Now mix this to the grinded flour thoroughly. Later garnish well chopped curry leaves before frying in the pan or microwave. Mixed gratings of green leaves, carrot, beetroot can also be tried.

Never add masala powder to the ingredients as this will spoil the aroma of vada. Hotels never concentrate on this point and dump the masala as they wish just for the customer to throw it to dustbin. Too much of masala will turn the recipe bitter, gives food aversion and will lead to ulcer in stomach.

When leaves are mixed to the vada mix, never add chopped onions or garlic. This will ruin the flavour and nutrient of the leaves. Always prepare onion vada as a separate recipe.

Take the mix as small balls, press into small flattened disc on your palm and fry it in low heat. Never add water to the mix while patting on your palm because you will not know how much water you have added to it by dipping the fingers in water bowl for each tapping. This caution applies to all types of vada.

Side dishes: chutney, tomato ketchup, any vegetable sambar. Left over vadas will loose crispyness the next day. So just before serving, fry them again in oil for few seconds. Those with microwave can reheat at 150 degree for 10 secs.